


He's Not Gay... I'm Serious Mom

by frankiesin



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Youth Group, Established Relationship, Homophobia, Josh-centric, MHDSR - freeform, Multi, Polyamory, Straight Allies TM, Vacation Bible School, salt fic, the gunngipane is literally just there because I have no self control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 12:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9323150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankiesin/pseuds/frankiesin
Summary: Josh's friendship with Tyler is falling apart because Tyler's homophobic and has been harrassing Josh's (secret) boyfriends. Josh goes to the only two people he can trust: his (straight, trying-too-hard-to-be-supportive) mom, and his (aggressively bisexual) friend, Ashley.(set in transboykobrakid's MHDSR universe)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Must Have Done Something Right](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5054434) by [transboykobrakid (Lucipoo)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucipoo/pseuds/transboykobrakid). 



> Yes, hello, it is I, the Salt Dad. I wrote this because of a conversation transboykobrakid and I had on tumblr, in response to some... Interesting comments they got on their most recent chapter of Must Have Done Something Right (which is a great fic and Casper isn't even paying me to say that). 
> 
> Anyway, have some Josh Dun dealing with a decaying friendship, and also Halsey/Lynn Gunn because there should really be more of that ship and all I do is write rarepairs anyway.

Josh stared at his phone for what must have been the seventeenth time that day. Tyler's words from earlier were ringing in his head-- _ why don't you hang out with me any more? You're always with… those guys _ . Josh knew that he owed Tyler an explanation, or at least an apology, for his actions, but he really didn't want to give it. Tyler had been acting like a jerk recently, and it was really putting Josh down. They'd been such good friends. It was really a shame that Tyler turned out to be blatantly homophobic and really rude towards Josh's boyfriends. 

 

Josh wasn't going to come out to Tyler. There was no reason to even try, because Tyler was close-minded and would only make Josh feel worse. Josh wished he had someone to go to for this kind of stuff, but he didn't really have a friend who would be unbiased. Usually, whenever he had a problem he would go to Tyler or Ashley about it, because he'd known them for a while and he trusted the both of them with his secrets. Tyler wasn't an option, for obvious reasons. Ashley wouldn't work either, because she was even more aggressively queer than Frank, and she'd probably tell Josh to just deck Tyler in the face. 

 

Josh did not want to deck Tyler in the face. He still somewhat thought of Tyler as a friend, even though that label was starting to feel like a lie. 

 

Josh locked his phone and dropped it back down onto his bend. He had to do this, somehow. He couldn't just stand back and let Tyler be relentlessly cruel towards Pete and Mikey. Josh  _ liked _ Pete and Mikey. He was dating them, for fucks sake, and he was pretty sure that there was some unspoken rule that if your friend is being a dick to your significant other(s), you're supposed to tell the friend to  _ back the fuck off _ . 

 

His mom knocked on his door, startling him out of his thoughts. Josh didn't get a chance to respond before she was opening his door and poking her head in. Thankfully, Josh was wearing pants. She smiled at him. “Hey, how was your first day at VBS?”

 

“It was pretty good,” Josh said, thinking specifically about the moments he got to spend with Mikey and Pete. Hanging out with kids was fun and all, but Josh never got enough time with his boyfriends, and he was always willing to sneak off for a few moments with one or both of them.

 

“How was Tyler? Is he enjoying volunteering with the kids?” His mom asked. Josh must have made a face, because his mom suddenly frowned and came in to sit down on the edge of his bed so that she could be eye to eye with him. “Did something happen between the two of you? You haven't had him over for a while?”

 

“Tyler…” Josh started. His mom knew he was bi, and was supportive in the way that over-enthusiastic straight people tend to be, but he still didn't want to deal with his current conundrum. Josh sighed. “Tyler's been acting… rude, I guess. And I think it's because he knows I'm not straight, and he's not okay with it.”

 

“Are you sure, honey?” His mom asked, doing that mom thing where she leaned in and put her hand over his knee to be consoling. “The Tyler I know is a nice, accepting young man.”

 

“Mom, you know about the whole Pete and Mikey thing, right?” Josh said. “Tyler treats them like crap because they're gay, and I'm pretty sure if he knew about me, he'd do the same thing. He's already getting annoyed with me because I'm spending more time with Mikey and Gerard and Pete. I don't want to make him even more annoyed with me.”

 

“How do you know Tyler's change of behaviour is because if your sexuality and not something else?” She asked. Josh had a horrible feeling that his mom had already come to a conclusion of her own. He loved his mom, really, but sometimes she tried too hard to be a good ally, and ended up being really, really wrong about some things. “You know little boys will be mean to girls if they like them, and how people tend to act their worst when they're jealous?”

 

Josh rolled his eyes, even though he was pretty sure his mom wouldn't appreciate that. “Mom, Tyler's not jealous of Mikey or Pete, he's just homophobic.”

 

“I never said he was jealous of either of them,” she said. Josh was pretty sure that's where she'd been going with her line of thought, but apparently he was wrong. She sat up straight. “Mikey and Pete were the first same sex couple in your youth group, and they were both accepted by all of your friends. I know that Tyler and Jenna are still dating, but that doesn't mean Tyler is straight. You dated that Ashley girl and look how you turned out!”

 

“I'm not sure where you're going, mom.”

 

She sighed and smiled at him. “I think, maybe Tyler's got a crush on you. You two have always been close, and you remember how wary he was of Ashley, right? Well, maybe he's been harbouring feelings for you for a while, but because of all that's been happening with Pete and Mikey and their parents, he's afraid of coming out. He's acting the way he is because he misses his best friend, honey. Tyler's not homophobic, not really. He's too nice to have any hate in his bones.”

 

“But I don't like Tyler,” Josh said. He already had two boyfriends. He wasn't about to try for a third when his straight mother thought that it could work because Tyler had some kind of internalised homophobia going on and was secretly crushing on Josh. 

 

“Then you should tell him that,” she said. “Don't sabotage your friendship just because of a misunderstanding. Tyler's probably just confused about his feelings for you, and needs some support now.”

 

Josh didn't believe her at all. “Okay, mom. I'll talk to him tomorrow at VBS.”

 

She smiled, seeming to be satisfied with their conversation. That made one of them. Josh still felt like he didn't have an answer for his problems with Tyler. His mom reached across the bed and pulled Josh in for a hug. “I'm glad you came to me about this. You're a good kid, you know.”

 

“Yeah,” Josh said. His mom left him alone after that, and Josh returned to staring at his phone. He hadn't gotten any answers. He still had to figure out what to do about Tyler, who was obviously homophobic and obviously not secretly in love with Josh. 

 

\---------------------------

 

“She said  _ what? _ ” Ashley choked out. Josh didn't have the best timing, apparently, and had told Ashley about his mom’s weird theory right as she drank from her iced coffee. She managed not to spit tank, which was good. If she'd spit tanked, her iced coffee would have gotten all over Josh, and Josh didn't want iced coffee down his shirt. 

 

It had been one VBS day since Josh's mom told him that Tyler had a secret gay crush on Josh. He and Ashley were getting coffee at Starbucks as an excuse to hang out and catch up on each other’s lives. 

 

“That Tyler was just dealing with internalised homophobia and he secretly liked me,” Josh repeated. 

 

Ashley shook her head. “That is the most straight ally thing I have ever heard.”

 

Josh sighed. “I know, right? I couldn't figure out why it irritated me at first, other than the obvious reasons, but now I know. It's basically that  _ oh the cruel football bully was gay this whole time and just jealous of the conventionally attractive white twins gay boy _ . I hate that trope.”

 

“Yeah,” Ashley agreed. “Not every homophobe is secretly gay. That's such a shitty assumption to make. People even did that with the whole Pulse shooting, and people fucking  _ died _ there.”

 

“Straight people are something else,” Josh shook his head. He took a sip of his own iced coffee, and swallowed before saying. “Well, that's pretty much all the updates I've got for now. What's up with you?”

 

“Well, I've made a slight mistake,” Ashley said, which was the least comforting thing ever. Josh raised an eyebrow, and Ashley ducked her head in embarrassment. “I've got a crush on a girl, and she lives pretty far away.”

 

“How far?” Josh asked. 

 

“Like an hour and a half,” Ashley said. “We met at camp, and we've been talking ever since, and I'm pretty sure she's not straight, but I don't want to be wrong and then embarrass myself, you know?”

 

“You must really like her.”

 

“Why do you say that?” Ashley asked. 

 

“Because you were never afraid of embarrassing yourself in front of me when we went out,” Josh said. Ashley didn't get embarrassed easily, which was one of the reasons Josh had liked her originally. That, and she had really cool hair. Cool hair was often a signifier of a cool personality, except in the case of TERFs. 

 

Ashley nodded. “Okay, true. But you're also not a cute girl. Cute girls are something else, dude.”

 

“Cute guys are pretty great, though,” Josh said, and grinned. “I'm dating two of them, and it's fantastic even though we, like, never get any time with each other.”

 

“Can't all three of you be left alone without anyone questioning it?” Ashley asked. 

 

“Yeah, but it's still a pain in the ass,” Josh said. He drank from his iced coffee again, remembering how Mikey had kept shooting him looks from across the room the entire time they were around each other. “I know Mikey wants to get more time with me and Pete, and I'm pretty sure Pete feels the same way. I just wish Tyler had never found out about Mikey and Pete. They'd be able to be left alone if it wasn't for him.”

 

“You can always just punch him in the face for being a homophobic douche bag,” Ashley suggested, taking another sip of her coffee. Josh shook his head. He knew that she'd suggest that. He wasn't going to do it, though. Josh wasn't the type to invoke violence on others. Tyler's homophobia was bad, and annoying, and Josh wished that his friend would stop being so problematic, but Josh knew he couldn't solve the problem with his fists. 

 

Ashley pouted at Josh from around her straw. “I can do it for you if you don't want to punch him yourself.”

 

“No one’s punching Tyler,” Josh said. 

 

“Aw,” Ashley said. “Not even once?”

 

“Nope, sorry,” Josh said. He pushed his (now finished) drink to the side and leaned forward. “So, you never told me who your girl crush was. Do I know her?”

 

“Maybe?”

 

“What's her name?”

 

“Lynn,” Ashley said, and she actually blushed. Amazing. Josh never thought he would see the day where Ashley had an actual crush on somewhere and got all flustered and shit. It was life changing, really. Ashley glared up at Josh through her eyelashes, like she could tell he was laughing at her internally. “She was at Jesus camp, from one of the other churches. Brown hair, white, had cool eyebrows.”

 

“I think I know who you’re talking about, yeah,” Josh nodded. “If you two ever start doing anything, can I play the protective older brother card and threaten to slice her tires if she breaks your heart? Or whatever it is that straight people do?”

 

Ashley rolled her eyes. “Absolutely not.”

 

\---------------------------

 

“How’re things with you and Tyler?” Josh’s mom asked as soon as Josh got into the car after the second day of VBS. Josh turned his head so that she couldn’t see him rolling his eyes and then said, “Um, same as usual. I guess. Still kind of awkward because of the whole homophobic thing.”

 

“Josh, honey, just tell him you’re bi,” she said. Josh knew she was trying to be supportive, really, he did, but sometimes he just wished she wouldn’t give him advice. It was just… bad advice. Josh had seen how Tyler reacted to finding out that Pete and Mikey were queer, and how he always kept his distance from Frank like Frank was diseased. And how Tyler had never warmed to Ashley. Josh wasn’t going to come out to his friend just because his mom had this weird notion that Tyler was secretly in love with him or something. 

 

“He’s a good kid,” she said. “He’s just got that internalised homophobia to work through.”

 

“Mom,” Josh said, slowly, because they were at a red light and he didn’t think it could go too horribly wrong at this point. “I love you, and I know that you’re trying to be supportive and helpful and stuff, so thanks, but trust me. Tyler’s just homophobic. He’s not secretly gay for me, or working through internalised issues or anything. He’s just… he’s just being mean to my gay friends because he genuinely thinks that being gay is wrong and disgusting.”

 

His mom frowned, but she seemed like she was actually listening to him. “Are you sure?”

 

“Yes,” Josh nodded. “I’ve known him for years. And I think… I think I should just never tell him I’m bi. He wouldn’t take it well, and I don’t want to risk getting in trouble or banned from seeing my friends just because you wanted me to be honest about something that shouldn’t even matter.”

 

“Well, it is your decision,” she said. She sounded a little disappointed. Josh could relate. He too wished that his friend, a guy he’d known since childhood, wasn’t a homophobe. “I’m sorry you have to go through this, honey. You shouldn’t have to lose a perfectly good friendship just because the other guy can’t get over his own prejudices.”

 

Josh smiled. “Thanks, mom. Hey, can we get Taco Bell for lunch? I haven’t had any forever.”

 

“Of course,”  she said. And Josh knew that, at least in this part of his life, things were going to be okay. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked it, and please go read MHDSR aka the strangest but most relatable AU fic I've read in a while!


End file.
